Microsoft has Windows 7 surprises up its sleeve

Microsoft is planning a couple of major new announcements around Windows 7 with the forthcoming release of the Release Candidate.

At a briefing at Microsoft's London headquarters today, the company's Windows OEM manager, Laurence Painell told PC Pro that there will be a "couple of additional, quite major announcements" in the coming weeks.

Painell wouldn't reveal when the Release Candidate was due to arrive, but leaked reports have previously suggested that it could come as early as next week, on 10 April.

Painell said the company is currently working hard to avoid the software and hardware compatibility issues that blighted the launch of Windows Vista.

Whilst the vast majority of Vista apps should work perfectly happily with Windows 7, Microsoft is aware that the "majority of businesses are still running Windows XP," according to Painell.